The Ecole hotelière de Lausanne is a world renowned hospitality university. Our gastronomic training restaurant, Le Berceau des Sens, is equally deserving of praise and has once again obtained 16 out of 20 points from the prestigious Gault & Millau restaurant guide for Switzerland!
In the kitchen, head chef Cédric Bourassin, leads a high-flying brigade of professionals and students. In the dining room too, it is the students providing the service, meticulously coached by restaurant manager André Wawrzyniak, senior lecturers and highly experienced staff.
What to expect at Le Berceau des Sens
The menu
The BDS menu might be on the short side, but it offers a colourful variation of seasonal, locally-sourced ingredients of the best quality. What follows is a typical example of a 3-course meal comprised of starter, main course and dessert.
An exquisite snail cromesquis and a small tartlet haloed with a mushroom mousse begin the proceedings in a very delicious way. Next up, a playful set of foie gras balls, each unveiling a particular flavor: Kampot pepper, white chocolate and Espelette pepper. It’s both fun and exquisite. Then comes a sea bream in rillettes and thin slices, served with a creamy avocado and cucumber, enhanced with refreshing notes of pink grapefruit slices.
The black-legged chicken from Gruyère is sublime, served in a ballotine with a short tamarind sauce and a fine white eggplant puree. The Hautes-Alpes lamb has been marinated in Asian flavors and has been cooked for a long time at a low temperature under vacuum ('sous vide') before being seared, dressed and topped with a short umami-flavored juice alongside a delicate sea lettuce spring roll.
This magnificent meal comes slowly to its end thanks to an infinitely light dessert made of a pistachio soufflé accompanied by cherry compote and sour cherry sorbet.
The service
The service is warm, confident and informative. Whether serving you exquisite bread rolls or the finest wines from the region, the trainee staff are considerate and delightful at every turn. Their eagerness to learn and emulate their trainers is palpable. Yet this does not make them overly servile or annoyingly keen to please. On the contrary, their first lesson is to tread the fine line between being readily available to every guest whilst remaining appropriately discreet. It is a lesson well learnt.
The harmony of movement and exchange between student and master is testimony to the basic prinicipals that make eating at the BDS such a great experience: elegance is based on essentialism. A well-trained wrist movement when serving the wine, concise information on the dishes, timing each manoeuvre around the table with expert precision. Less is more to great effect at the award-winning BDS. Is it any wonder one has to book at least 6 months ahead to get a table?
From the kitchen to the table, charm, elegance and professionalism prevail. Gault & Millau Switzerland applauds Cédric Bourrasin's mastery in menu creation and the excellence of a very attentive service. The restaurant is once again recognized for opening its doors to regional haute cuisine, while stimulating professional vocations in the world of fine dining and hospitality.
Congratulations to the entire BDS team and students!
Read more on Gault & Millau and discover the wonderful Berceau des Sens for yourself.
